"Labyrinthian is a good word to describe the tangle of explanations given by Senate members for failing again on Sept. 29 to fund the settlements of Pigford II and Cobell, the class action discrimination lawsuits filed by black and Indian farmers.

Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid say that passage was virtually assured, until Sen. Tom Coburn (R) of Oklahoma objected. Coburn's aides say Reid's process was the problem -- that, and a lack of offsets and safeguards in the legislation -- which wouldn't have been a problem if Sen. John Barrasso's (R-Wyo.) changes had been incorporated into the most recent attempt.

Reid's people cry foul, saying that Sen. Barrasso's issues had been resolved and he no longer objected to the settlements. Barrasso, by the way, was the senator fingered in the Aug. 5 failed attempt to pass the legislation -- the seventh of nine failed attempts by my count. So now, at least according to Sen. Reid, it's back to being Coburn's fault.

Which brings up another word: wearying. The Senate has been treating these settlements like a badminton birdie since March, depriving thousands of black and Indian farmers the relief they are due from Pigford II ($1.15 billion) and Cobell ($2 billion).

Actually, both groups of farmers have been waiting longer than that. This legacy of failure and antipathy goes back at least to the beginning of the last century for Indian farmers and the 1950s and 1960s for black farmers. Tales of being swindled and of blatant discrimination are disturbing enough without the realization that the federal government itself was the culprit."